Creator Spotlight - MarkFyve

Interviewing a fellow Substacker

This week my normal Curious Realizer post is being replaced by another Creator Spotlight because I'm traveling for a few days.

One of my earliest contacts in the Substack community is the man behind the MarkFyve Substack, who I think of as Mark 2 instead of Mark 5 but maybe that’s some ego on my end… anyway, MarkFyve is a great fellow and an entertaining writer and I was really pleased that he agreed to be interviewed so let’s stomp on the accelerator and GOOOOO!

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First, what did you want to be when you grew up? And does this have any correlation between writing and your MarkFyve Substack?

When I was young, I wanted to be everything from an actor to a Secret Service Agent. What I wanted to be even more, though, was a cartoonist. I grew up loving the Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schulz and thought that would just be the coolest job. I had always loved drawing and even came up with my own strip called "Nutz 'n Boltz" about two goofy robots but never did much with it. I did use the names (with some different spellings) in my Kindle Vella story, "The T.E.M.P Agency" where Boltz was the last name taken by the main android character and Nutz was the name of his creator. 

Since, at this point, my Substack is pretty much a blog for me, things like this will pop up from time to time. I write about whatever comes to mind and I find interesting, so things like my childhood, interests, life lessons, and choices made are all fair game.  

And where did the name MarkFyve come from?
It comes from the silly recesses of my mind where I like to think I'm clever (but probably not). As a child, I loved the old Speed Racer cartoon. It was the very first anime' I watched back before I even knew what the term was. Speed's car is called the "Mach Five", but my young ears always heard "Mark Five" (which I always thought was so cool), so that's what I came to know it as until finding out the real name later in life. I just thought it would be a fun name to use and the different spelling of 'five' due to me getting tired of being told "That name (MarkFive) has already been taken." Maybe I'm not the only Speed Racer fan out there?

Tell us more about Kindle Vella and what you've done for it.

Sure. Kindle Vella is Amazon's new self-publishing format which started about a year ago and focuses on episodic stories, sort of like Wattpad or Radish. You post chapters (called episodes which are between 600 and 5,000 words) with whatever frequency you like, and people buy "tokens" to unlock and read them. The first three episodes are always free so you can decide if you enjoy the story before becoming too invested. So far, it's only available in the U.S., but Amazon says they have plans to expand. 

I guess I first became aware of it last November and decided to give it a shot. My wife is always encouraging me to publish some of my stuff so I figured this would be a good opportunity. I had a story I had done for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in 2011 that wasn't complete but was still over that 50,000-word threshold to get me a 'win'. I figured that would be a good start and I could finish as I went. So, I did some heavy editing and started putting up episodes. A couple of months later, I get an email from Amazon telling me I was getting a 'bonus'. You do make royalties based on tokens used to unlock your work, but I hadn't heard about a bonus until then. In my case, it usually doesn't amount to a lot (a couple of hundred dollars a month, depending), but it's still nice to get paid for writing, even in a non-traditional manner. 

So far, I have two Vellas ongoing. "The T.E.M.P Agency" (my original story) that is winding down after over 30 episodes with a clear ending in sight (finally) and "The Beacon: Light of Justice". The Beacon is fairly new, with only 12 episodes out at this point. I'm working on another series about a paranormal detective which should be ready soon!

Did you do any online writing before Substack or Kindle Vella?

I had a blog going a few years back, but that was it. Nothing as organized as Substack or Kindle Vella.

Any particular likes or dislikes about Substack as a platform?

I only thing I dislike, and even that's probably too strong a word, about Substack is the way it handles picture placement. It just seems clunky compared to other platforms. Other than that, I think it has a lot going for it and is a great format for newsletters. The community is also top-notch. 

Are you a lifelong resident of Florida?

No, I grew up in Northern Kentucky, right across from Cincinnati, Ohio. I moved to Florida in 2009 when I met my wife.

What's it been like there since the beginning of 2020?

I live in a tourist town (Vero Beach) so, at first, we saw a decline in vacationers as was to be expected, but that was really it. Despite what the news may want to have everyone believe, people in Florida use common sense when it comes to keeping themselves safe. I think places like Miami had problems because of the dense population. Things weren't that bad here and are back to normal for the large majority. 

If you could write for any publication (print or digital) which would you choose and why?

While not a specific publication, I would love to write comic books. Having grown up collecting and having them be such a big part of my young life, I think I could bring a lot of fresh ideas to almost any book. It doesn't have to be Batman or Captain America; I'd write anything fun.

The Batman is not horror, as long as you are on the right side of the law

How about your love for horror and or camp?

I wouldn't say I'm a true 'horror' fan as much as I am a fan of B-Movie/Drive-In movies. I much prefer an old Universal "monster" movie over a hack and slash, Texas Chainsaw Massacre-esque offering. Again, it's a carryover from my youth. I used to go to the drive-in (back when we still had drive-ins) and regular movies a lot and saw a lot of cheesy films. I guess I just developed a strange fondness for silly movies with bad special effects. As you may be able to tell from some of my Substacks and Twitter posts, I'm a huge fan of the old movie serial, as well.

What about things like #Svengoolie or https://twitter.com/IvonnaCadaver ?

Svengoolie and Ivonna Cadaver are just a few of the horror hosts I follow on Twitter and live Tweet their shows on occasion, hence the hashtag on Saturday nights. To me, though, they're not just "horror" movie hosts but more "cheesy movie" hosts. They pop in during breaks with info on the movie, actors, etc. as well as doing skits, jokes, and things like that.

Along with Svengoolie and Ivonna Cadaver, some of my favorites are Dr. Gangrene, Mr. Lobo, and the grandaddy of them all...Joe Bob Briggs who always reminds us that the drive-in will never die!

Were you also a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000?

I wasn't a "fan", per se, but I've seen quite a few of the episodes and have enjoyed them. It reminds me a lot of what I and my buddies used to do when we'd get together for a movie night at someone's house

You've been using Twitter for four years. What's its appeal for you and why do you keep using it? Does it seem to be changing at all over time?

I like the conversation/sharing aspect of it. It's like a (very) mini blog where people can post their ideas, thoughts, etc. It does get a little crazy at times and the real test is knowing when to just scroll on by. It's definitely changed over time. People used to interact (like/retweet/comment) more. These days it's more "buy my stuff" or having someone with a verified account talk -at- you instead of to you. You can still find good people on there, though. The writing and Substack community are some of the best around.

Pretend you wake up one morning and the Internet has been destroyed. What's the first thing you do?

The first thing I do is regret the decision not to have all my writing in physical notebooks/thumb drives instead of on Google drive. After that, I'd just pretend it was 1986 again and go on with my life like I did when we didn't have the internet.

Thanks so much to Mark 2, I mean MarkFyve for being interviewed, make sure you check out his Substack and his Kindle Vella writing!